WC Anand knocked out Mamedyarov 2-0

[Event "Corsica Masters 2011"]
[Date "2011.10.31"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D70"]
[WhiteElo "2817"]
[BlackElo "2746"]
[EventDate "2011.10.28"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nb6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Be3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O Qd6 10. Kb1 Rd8 11. Nb5 Qd7 12. d5 Ne5 13. Qc2 c6 14. Nxa7 Rxa7 15. Bxb6 Ra8 16. Ne2 Re8 17. Nc3 Qd6 18. Be3 Bd7 19. dxc6 Qxc6 20. Bb5 Qe6 21. Bxd7 Nxd7 22. Qb3 Qxb3 23. axb3 Ne5 24. Nd5 Rac8 25. Rd2 e6 26. Nb6 Rcd8 27. Rhd1 Rxd2 28. Rxd2 f5 29. Nc4 fxe4 30. fxe4 Rf8 31. h3 Rf1+ 32. Kc2 Nc6 33. Rd1 Rf7 34. Rd6 Re7 35. Bc5 Rf7 36. Rxe6 Bd4 37. Rxc6 Rf2+ 38. Kd3 bxc6 39. Bxd4 Rxg2 40. Ne5 Rg3+ 41. Kc4 Rxh3 42. Nxc6 h5 43. b4 1-0



[Event "Corsica Masters 2011"]
[Date "2011.10.31"]
[Round "4.2"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2746"]
[BlackElo "2817"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. g4 dxc4 8. Bxc4 c5 9. g5 Nh5 10. Be5 a6 11. Bd3 g6 12. h4 Nxe5 13. dxe5 b5 14. Nh2 Ra7 15. Qe2 c4 16. Bc2 Qa5 17. O-O b4 18. Ne4 Qxe5 19. Ng4 Qc7 20. Rad1 a5 21. Rd4 Ba6 22. Rfd1 c3 23. Bd3 Bxd3 24. R4xd3 Qc4 25. Nef6+ Bxf6 26. gxf6 Qc5 27. bxc3 bxc3 28. Rd8 h6 29. Rxf8+ Qxf8 30. Qc4 Qb4 31. Qc8+ Kh7 32. f3 Qb7 33. Qf8 Ra8 34. Qxh6+ Kg8 35. Ne5 Nxf6 36. Qf4 Nd5 37. Qd4 Qb2 38. Nd3 Qe2 39. Re1 Qxf3 40. h5 0-1

Rising to 5th in the world

Teymur Rajabov rises to fifth place in FIDE ranking
Tue 01 November 2011

The International Chess Federation has published an official ranking list of the strongest chess players of the planet.

Teymur Rajabov is the strongest Azerbaijani grandmaster. His successful participation in the world cup and European club cup rose Rajabov to the fifth place. His coefficient equals 2781.

Vugar Hashimov is 11th with 2757 points. Shahriyar Mammadyarov fell to the 18th place with 2733 points.

Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2826), Vushvanatan Anand (India, 2811), Levon Aronyan (Armenia, 2802) and Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2800) take the first four places.

Azerbaijan is 10th among teams with average statistical index of 2642.

Elmir Aliyev
News.Az

Spooky Bughouse Halloween SPECIAL!

This is our TWENTIETH of many live bughouse videos we'll be releasing. Bughouse is controversial amongst the chess community but like all things, a little bit of moderation is key, and I don't think it hurts your chess game. More importantly I think it gets kids into chess, teaches you about positional play and teamwork as well. I'm releasing these videos for fun and hope you all enjoy them. My friend Kazim Gulamali is one of the best bughouse players in the world so I hope you enjoy.

Dual Commentary by NM Will Stewart, FM Kazim Gulamali

What is bughouse chess? I wrote a great article about it here:

Follow William for fresh daily updates: Follow @OnlineChessLess



William Stewart is a National Master. He specializes in Online Chess Coaching and maintains a daily updated Chess Blog

Russia takes gold at the World Youth Under-16 Chess Olympiad

Russia takes gold at the World Youth Under-16 Chess Olympiad

The Turkish Chess Federation (TCF) organised the World Youth Under-16 Chess Olympiad in Kocaeli, Turkey from 23rd October to 1st November. The Olympiad was conducted under the auspices of Federation Internationale Des Echecs (FIDE).

Entitled to participate were players who shall not have reached the age of 16, by 1st January 2011, (Date of Birth 1995 and after). TCF provided free board and lodging for a team of 4 players and the official for ten days.

Armenia held the lead throughout the tournament, but the Russian team played a very convincing finish, overtook the top position in the penultimate round and eventually clinched the gold medal. Russia won 9 matches and lost one.

Armenia, with 6 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses, takes silver medal, point and a half behind Russia.

Azerbaijan’s final round 4-0 victory against Turkey-White allowed them to catch Iran on the shared third place, but Iran claims the bronze on better tie-break.

The tournament was played as a 10 Round Swiss. Each match between teams was conducted over 4 boards. The time control was 90 minutes with 30 seconds increments per move.

122 players from Turkey, Scotland, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Switzerland, Slovakia, India, Russia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Iran, Kenya, Armenia, Czech Republic, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Syria, Moldova, England and Georgia, competed.

More information on the official website

Round 10 results:

Russia 3½ – ½ Czech Republic
Armenia 3½ – ½ Kyrgyzstan
Kazakhstan 1 – 3 Iran
Azerbaijan 4 – 0 Turkey-White
Turkey-Red 0 – 4 India
Georgia 2 – 2 Syria
Moldova 1½ – 2½ Malaysia
Turkey-Turkuaz 0 – 4 South Africa-Team-A
UAE-Team-A 0 – 4 Switzerland
England 4 – 0 UAE-Team-B
UAE-Team-C 0 – 4 Slovakia
Scotland 3½ – ½ Kenya
Turkey-Kocaeli 0 – 4 South Africa-Team-B

Final standings:

1 Russia 30
2 Armenia 28½
3 Iran 27½
4 Azerbaijan 27½
5 India 25
6 South Africa-Team-A 22
7 Kazakhstan 21½
8 Switzerland 21½
9 England 21½
10 Slovakia 21½
11 Malaysia 21
12 Scotland 21
13 Georgia 20½
14 Syria 20½
15 Czech Republic 20
16 Kyrgyzstan 20
17 Moldova 19½
18 Turkey-Red 19
19 Turkey-White 19
20 South Africa-Team-B 19
21 Turkey-Turkuaz 18½
22 UAE-Team-A 17½
23 UAE-Team-B 14½
24 Turkey-Kocaeli 14
25 UAE-Team-C 7
26 Kenya 2½

Halloween 2011

So long Halloween 2011 :)

Endgame chess tactic

Black to move. How should black proceed?

Queenstown Chess Classic

Leading chess players boost for event
SARAH LAMONT
Last updated 05:00 01/11/2011

An international chess tournament is returning to Queenstown for the third time, attracting some of the highest-ranked players it has ever seen.

New Zealand Chess Federation president and chief organiser Paul Spiller said Queenstown was the ideal place for the tournament because it catered to the tourism aspect of the competition.

It was also chosen as the destination by event sponsor Murray Chandler, New Zealand's only grandmaster, because he liked Queenstown.

The event had been held every three years in Queenstown since the inaugural contest in 2006.

It was "pretty much unique" and had proved to be successful in the past, attracting top players from around the world. Next year's tournament had already attracted some of the highest- ranked players so far, he said.

Twelve grandmasters had confirmed their entries including grandmaster Li Chao who was the third-best Chinese player and about 35th in the world, Indian grandmaster Surya Ganguly, who has won the Indian Chess Championship six times and is rated in the top 100 in the world, grandmaster Gawain Jones of England who recently won the Commonwealth Chess Championships in South Africa, Oceania Champion grandmaster Zong-Yuan Zhao of Australia and top female Zhao Xue of China who recently won the Women's World Cup tournament.

The tournament will also include top players from New Zealand and Australia, he said.

"It's a serious business playing chess ... very intense."

He hoped to get 150 players plus an entourage of supporters.

He estimated it brought in about $2 million to the local economy.

Chess as a sport was growing, especially in the junior ranks, he said. New Zealand had a strong inter-school tournament system and it was very popular. It would be interesting to see if some of those talented young players competed in this tournament, he said.

The tournament consists of nine games. One is played each day, running four to six hours on an electronic clock.

The competition was open to anyone, with $30,000 in prizemoney. In co-operation with the New Zealand Chess Federation, the Queenstown Chess Classic will also combine the official 119th New Zealand Chess Championships. This event has two automatic Olympiad team qualification places on offer, one each for both the open and the women's team.The 2012 Queenstown Chess Classic takes places at the Millennium Hotel from January 15 to 23.

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz

Unbelievable!

72 days ago, Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries had a $10 million wedding. 72 days later, she filed for a divorce. This is equivalent to $138,888 for each day it lasted. Is this a joke?

In the mean time, the unemployment rate in America is over 9% and the unemployment / under-employment rate is nearly 20%.

Perhaps the "Occupy Wall Street" and everywhere else folks are camping out at the wrong place? This reality stuff has gone too far while our kids are failing left and right. Unbelievable! How about donating that $10 million to help educate our kids to do better in school and in life through chess?

What is your take?

Special Chocolate

2016 Toronto Chess Olympiad Chocolate (artwork by Mike Magnan)! Yummy :)

Greetings from up North!

(Lifestyles Magazine Founder Gabriel Erem and Oscar Winner Michael Douglas)

Greetings from Canada! I arrived in Toronto for the special 40th anniversary bash of Lifestyles Magazine and to help with the 2016 Toronto World Chess Olympiad bid.

With over 140 nations taking part, this is an outstanding opportunity to advertise both Toronto and Canada to the world. The multicultural make-up of Toronto makes this city the perfect host.

As an intermediate step, we also aim to host the Commonwealth Chess Championship and the Pan-American Chess Championship. Various World Chess Championship are also available for bidding, such as the World Youth Chess Championships and the World Chess Championship itself.

This is an excellent opportunity to market Canadian products and services to countries around the world. The event will also be of interest to Canadian and global firms interested in reaching Canadian customers. (http://www.canadianchess.info)

Monster Chess Mash

Halloween artwork by Mike Magnan

Happy Monster Chess Mash :)

Top American Players (2500+)

Top American Players (2500+)

#	Name	Title	Fed	Rating	G	B-Year
1	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2758	10	1987
2	Kamsky, Gata	g	USA	2732	16	1974
3	Onischuk, Alexander	g	USA	2674	13	1975
4	Seirawan, Yasser	g	USA	2658	8	1960
5	Hess, Robert L	g	USA	2625	0	1991
6	Akobian, Varuzhan	g	USA	2612	3	1983
7	Shulman, Yuri	g	USA	2598	12	1975
8	Ramirez, Alejandro	g	USA	2595	9	1988
9	Robson, Ray	g	USA	2594	12	1994
9	Ehlvest, Jaan	g	USA	2594	0	1962
11	Lenderman, Aleksandr	g	USA	2581	17	1989
12	Christiansen, Larry M	g	USA	2575	0	1956
13	Kaidanov, Gregory S	g	USA	2574	0	1959
14	Stripunsky, Alexander	g	USA	2563	0	1970
15	Shankland, Samuel L	g	USA	2560	4	1991
16	Becerra Rivero, Julio	g	USA	2556	0	1973
17	Goldin, Alexander	g	USA	2555	3	1964
18	Benjamin, Joel	g	USA	2553	3	1964
19	Kudrin, Sergey	g	USA	2540	24	1959
20	Ibragimov, Ildar	g	USA	2539	0	1967
21	Shabalov, Alexander	g	USA	2523	25	1967
21	Friedel, Joshua E	g	USA	2523	18	1986
23	Perelshteyn, Eugene	g	USA	2516	9	1980
24	Yermolinsky, Alex	g	USA	2515	0	1958
25	Kraai, Jesse	g	USA	2514	0	1972
26	De Firmian, Nick E	g	USA	2512	12	1957
26	Ivanov, Alexander	g	USA	2512	8	1956
28	Hungaski, Robert Andrew	m	USA	2507	0	1987
29	Zatonskih, Anna	m	USA	2506	7	1978
30	Arnold, Marc T	m	USA	2504	18	1992
31	Finegold, Benjamin	g	USA	2501	9	1969

www.FIDE.com

SPICE Halloween

Happy Halloween from SPICE :)

Armenia captures silver at World Youth Chess Olympiad

Armenia captures silver at World Youth Chess Olympiad

October 31, 2011 | 15:44

KOCAELI. – Armenia’s national team won silver medal at World Youth Under 16 Chess Olympiad, which is being held in Kocaeli, Turkey.

At the final round, Armenia defeated Kyrgyzstan, tallied 28.5 points, and remained a mere 0.5 points behind the leader, Russia, which defeated the Czech Republic.

Iran was also in contention for second place, and, had it defeated Kazakhstan 4-0, it would have taken the silver medal away from Armenia, but the Iranians defeated the Kazakhs 3-1, received 27.5 points, in total, and thus remained third.

Armenia’s under-sixteen national chess squad comprises Karen Grigoryan, Hovhannes Gabuzyan, Tigran Harutyunyan, Arman Mikealyan, and Zohrak Apresyan. The team’s head coach is Arsen Yeghiazaryan.

Source: http://news.am

Ashburn Chess Club hosts IM Andrianov

Play Like a Master in Thanksgiving Chess Camp Break
Ashburn Chess Club hosts former Soviet junior champion Nikolay Andrianov for holiday camp.

• By Herky del Mundo
• 9:14am

Former Soviet junior champion and renowned world chess trainer International Master Nikolay Andrianov will lecture on how to play like a master in a chess camp during the Thanksgiving break.

The camp, sponsored by the Ashburn Chess Club, runs on Nov. 23, 25 and 26. The event combines both Soviet style of chess training and “chess is fun” breaks that feature short tourneys. It is intended to equip scholastic players with the skills to compete effectively in tournaments.

IM Andrianov specializes in chess coaching having attained a baccalaureate degree from the top school for sports and chess training in the former Soviet Union, the Moscow Central Physical & Sports Institute.

The theme “Play Like a Master” covers the afternoon class, which is scheduled Wednesday, Friday and Saturday during the break from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Another theme “How to Beat an Advanced Player” runs on the same days from 9 a.m. to noon.

IM Nikolay Andrianov regularly visits the club, and has been instrumental in training advanced scholastic players in the Loudoun area. Clark Smiley, one of last summer’s campers, has since gained a 450-rating point increase. He had 170 points increase during the camp, which he attended all-day. A month later, Smiley won $1,500 in the 43rd Annual Atlantic Open with a perfect score.

IM Andrianov not only trains young players, but had been a second and trainer for Vassily Smyslov and former women's world champion Maya Chiburdanidze. He has also been the coach/trainer for the Greek National team and was responsible for at least three Greek players becoming grandmasters. He has also taught in Ukraine, Russia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Early registrants can take advantage of discounts if they enroll before Nov. 5. Online registration is available at http://ashburnchessclub.com.

Source: http://ashburn.patch.com

World top young players

World's top Juniors Boys

Rank	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games	B-Year
1	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	2727	27	1992
2	Le, Quang Liem	g	VIE	2714	25	1991
3	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2714	14	1994
4	Ding, Liren	g	CHN	2660	11	1992
5	So, Wesley	g	PHI	2659	13	1993
6	Feller, Sebastien	g	FRA	2658	14	1991
7	Matlakov, Maxim	g	RUS	2632	22	1991
8	Safarli, Eltaj	g	AZE	2630	5	1992
9	Hess, Robert L	g	USA	2625	0	1991
10	Yu, Yangyi	g	CHN	2623	11	1994
11	Sjugirov, Sanan	g	RUS	2622	16	1993
12	Salgado Lopez, Ivan	g	ESP	2621	10	1991
13	Kovalyov, Anton	g	ARG	2619	17	1992
14	Negi, Parimarjan	g	IND	2617	24	1993
15	Zherebukh, Yaroslav	g	UKR	2594	23	1993
16	Robson, Ray	g	USA	2594	12	1994
17	Ipatov, Alexander	g	ESP	2586	15	1993
18	Hovhannisyan, Robert	g	ARM	2586	2	1991
19	Swiercz, Dariusz	g	POL	2584	16	1994
20	Hou, Yifan	g	CHN	2568	8	1994

Girls

1	Hou, Yifan	g	CHN	2568	8	1994
2	Ju, Wenjun	wg	CHN	2542	20	1991
3	Harika, Dronavalli	g	IND	2513	7	1991
4	Muzychuk, Mariya	m	UKR	2460	9	1992
5	Tan, Zhongyi	wg	CHN	2429	0	1991
6	Paikidze, Nazi	wg	GEO	2422	27	1993
7	Bodnaruk, Anastasia	m	RUS	2417	30	1992
8	Cori T., Deysi	wg	PER	2414	9	1993
9	Girya, Olga	wg	RUS	2399	24	1991
10	Padmini, Rout	wg	IND	2392	45	1994
11	Kashlinskaya, Alina	wg	RUS	2377	25	1993
12	Guramishvili, Sopiko	wg	GEO	2374	27	1991
13	Wang, Jue		CHN	2367	18	1995
14	Guo, Qi	wg	CHN	2359	8	1995
15	Sukandar, Irine Kharisma	wg	INA	2350	18	1992
16	Vojinovic, Jovana	wg	MNE	2346	23	1992
17	Savina, Anastasia	m	RUS	2343	9	1992
18	Ding, Yixin	wg	CHN	2338	17	1991
19	Bulmaga, Irina	wm	ROU	2334	18	1993
20	Arabidze, Meri	wm	GEO	2329	9	1994

www.fide.com

World's top women players

World's top women (2450 and above)

Rank	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games	B-Year
1	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	2710	16	1976
2	Koneru, Humpy	g	IND	2600	0	1987
3	Hou, Yifan	g	CHN	2568	8	1994
4	Muzychuk, Anna	m	SLO	2557	14	1990
5	Lahno, Kateryna	g	UKR	2549	17	1989
6	Kosintseva, Nadezhda	g	RUS	2546	11	1985
7	Ju, Wenjun	wg	CHN	2542	20	1991
8	Zhao, Xue	g	CHN	2539	11	1985
9	Stefanova, Antoaneta	g	BUL	2531	17	1979
10	Kosintseva, Tatiana	g	RUS	2526	11	1986
11	Cmilyte, Viktorija	g	LTU	2520	17	1983
12	Dzagnidze, Nana	g	GEO	2516	7	1987
13	Gunina, Valentina	m	RUS	2514	15	1989
14	Harika, Dronavalli	g	IND	2513	7	1991
15	Sebag, Marie	g	FRA	2512	0	1986
16	Danielian, Elina	g	ARM	2507	7	1978
17	Zatonskih, Anna	m	USA	2506	7	1978
18	Chiburdanidze, Maia	g	GEO	2500	0	1961
19	Khotenashvili, Bela	m	GEO	2497	0	1988
20	Cramling, Pia	g	SWE	2495	15	1963
21	Galliamova, Alisa	m	RUS	2490	20	1972
22	Zhu, Chen	g	QAT	2482	18	1976
23	Atalik, Ekaterina	m	TUR	2481	0	1982
24	Socko, Monika	g	POL	2479	12	1978
25	Ruan, Lufei	wg	CHN	2477	0	1987
26	Krush, Irina	m	USA	2476	4	1983
27	Javakhishvili, Lela	m	GEO	2475	6	1984
28	Xu, Yuhua	g	CHN	2472	0	1976
29	Mkrtchian, Lilit	m	ARM	2469	20	1982
30	Dembo, Yelena	m	GRE	2468	16	1983
31	Skripchenko, Almira	m	FRA	2468	4	1976
32	Ushenina, Anna	m	UKR	2463	8	1985
33	Muzychuk, Mariya	m	UKR	2460	9	1992
34	Munguntuul, Batkhuyag	m	MGL	2457	17	1987
35	Paehtz, Elisabeth	m	GER	2457	9	1985
36	Pogonina, Natalija	wg	RUS	2451	15	1985

Full list here: http://ratings.fide.com/top.phtml?list=women